Tanvir Mokammel grew up in Khulna.[7] His father worked as a magistrate in Narail and his mother was a teacher in a local college.[7] He completed his master's in English literature at the University of Dhaka.[6]
Career
Since he was a university student, Mokammel worked as a left-wing journalist for landless peasants in rural areas.[8] As a filmmaker he has made six full-length features and fifteen documentaries and short films, some of which have received national and international awards.[9]
His feature films are "Nodir Naam Modhumoti"(The River Named Modhumati), "Chitra Nodir Pare"(Quiet Flows the River Chitra), "Lalsalu"(A Tree Without Roots), "Lalon" , "Rabeya"(The Sister), and "Jibondhuli"(The Drummer). Tanvir Mokammel's prominent documentaries are "The Garment Girls of Bangladesh", "The Unknown Bard", "Teardrops of Karnaphuli", "Riders to the Sunderbans", "A Tale of the Jamuna River", "The Promised Land", "Tajuddin Ahmad :An Unsung Hero", "The Japanese Wife", "Swapnabhumi" and mega-documentary "1971". His movies "Nadir Naam Modhumati"(The River Named Modhumati) and "Chitra Nodir Pare"(Quiet Flows the River Chitra) ranked second and third respectively in the list of 10 best Bangladeshi films, in the audience and critics' polls conducted by the British Film Institute.[10]
Mokammel has written poems, short stories, and newspaper articles on cinema and cultural issues. Tanvir Mokammel's important books are "A Brief History of World Cinema", "The Art of Cinema", "Charlie Chaplin: Conquests by a Tramp", "Syed Waliullah, Sisyphus and Quest of Tradition in Novel" (a work of literary criticism), "Grundtvig and Folk Education" (a book on alternative educational ideas), and a translation of Maxim Gorky's play "The Lower Depths".[8]
Mokammel established a film institute called Bangladesh Film Centre.[6]
Filmography
Year
Title
English Title
Contribution
Notes
1984
Hooliya
Wanted
Script/Direction
An experimental short feature film based on a political poem by poet Nirmalendu Goon
A documentary on the plight of the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Mrung and other indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The documentary was banned by the government of Bangladesh.[11]
Bonojatri
Riders To The Sunderbans
Script/Direction
A documentary film on the Sunderbans
2007
Bostrobalikara
Garment Girls of Bangladesh
Script/Direction
Won- Best documentary film of the year by Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies.
Nissonga Sarathi
Tajuddin Ahmad: An Unsung Hero
Script/Direction
A documentary about Tajuddin Ahmad, the first premier of Bangladesh.
A deconstruction of Sophocles's play “Antigone” on the backdrop of the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971.
2011
1971
1971
Script/Direction
A mega-documentary on the liberation war of Bangladesh.
2012
Japani Bodhu
The Japanese Wife
Script/Direction
A documentary on Hariprobha Takeda, the first Bengali woman who wrote a travelogue on Japan and used to read Bengali news from Tokyo Radio for Subash Bose's Azad Hind Fauz.[citation needed]
Charlie Chaplin: Triumph of the Tramp(Bhabaghurer Digbijoy), in Bengali, on the life and craft of Charlie Chaplin as an actor and film-maker, Sahitya Prakasoni, 1996.
Grundtvig and Gonoshikhsa, a book on the theories of alternative education for the downtrodden and disadvantaged people of the rural areas, 1997.
Art of Cinema(Cinemar Shilparup), in Bengali, a collection of essays on different aspects of the aesthetics of cinema, 1998, Agamee Prakashani
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